The state overpaid former Sheriff Billy Long $3,831.21 in retirement benefits because state officials were not notified that he had been convicted on federal charges in 2008.
Steve Curry of the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System said direct deposit payments have stopped to the Long bank account after an inquiry of his status revealed he was no longer eligible.
Mr. Curry said Long retired from the sheriff's office in December 2005 and began drawing retirement pay. When he was became sheriff in September 2006 he stopped getting the payments.
He said Long upon his retirement had built up $82,519 in benefits.
He said he has continued to receive payments while in prison and the amount reached $86,350.
He will be sent a notice of overpayment and will be expected to repay the state, it was stated.
Mr. Curry said the notification of the conviction should have come from Hamilton County government.
He said if Long had not gotten into trouble, he could have received monthly state pension payments of $2,349.62 for life.
He said another local official who had a federal conviction, former Senator Ward Crutchfield, still gets pension payments.
He said that is because the Crutchfield conviction came before the law was amended.
Louis Wright, county finance director, said a new section of the law was added regarding pension payments to convicted officials.
He said, "We didn't know about it and the state didn't know about it."
Mr. Wright said the law was tightened after the Tennessee Waltz case in which a number of political figures, including former Senator Crutchfield, were caught in a sting operation.
He said officials who are convicted of crimes after February 2006 are suppose to lose their pensions under the amendment.